Abraham Lincoln, a History — Volume 02 eBook

South. Florida may be unwilling to subject
herself to the charge of temerity or immodesty
by leading off, but will most assuredly cooperate
with or follow the lead of any single Cotton State
which may secede. Whatever doubts I may have
entertained upon this subject have been entirely
dissipated by the recent elections in this State.

Florida will most unquestionably call
a convention as soon as it is ascertained that
a majority of the electors favor the election of
Lincoln, to meet most likely upon a day to be suggested
by some other State.

I leave to-day for the capital,
and will write you soon after my
arrival, but would be pleased
in the mean time to hear from you at
your earliest convenience.

If there is sufficient manliness
at the South to strike for our
rights, honor, and safety,
in God’s name let it be done before the
inauguration of Lincoln.

With high regard, I am yours,
etc.,

M.S. PERRY

Direct to Tallahassee.

P.S. I have written General
Gist at Union C.H.

Two agencies have thus far been described as engaged
in the work of fomenting the rebellion: the first,
secret societies of individuals, like “The 1860
Association,” designed to excite the masses and
create public sentiment; the second, a secret league
of Southern governors and other State functionaries,
whose mission it became to employ the governmental
machinery of States in furtherance of the plot.
These, though formidable and dangerous, would probably
have failed, either singly or combined, had they not
been assisted by a third of still greater efficacy
and certainty. This was nothing less than a conspiracy
in the very bosom of the National Administration at
Washington, embracing many United States Senators,
Representatives in Congress, three members of the
President’s Cabinet, and numerous subordinate
officials in the several Executive departments.
The special work which this powerful central cabal
undertook by common consent, and successfully accomplished,
was to divert Federal arms and forts to the use of
the rebellion, and to protect and shield the revolt
from any adverse influence, or preventive or destructive
action of the general Government.

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[1] As an evidence of the disunion combination which lay like smoldering
embers under the surface of Southern politics, it is instructive to read
an extract from a hitherto unpublished letter from Governor Henry A.
Wise, of Virginia, to a gentleman in Philadelphia, for a copy of which
we are indebted to General Duncan S. Walker. The other letter of
Wise—­previously quoted—­shows us his part and interest in the proposed
conspiracy against Fremont; but the erratic Governor had, after the
lapse of nearly two years, become an anti-Lecompton-Douglasite, and was
ready to give confidential warning of designs with which he was only
too familiar. As this was written nearly three weeks before Yancey’s
“Scarlet Letter,” its concurrent testimony is of special significance
as proof of the chronic conspiracy: